The Royal Canadian Legion’s Poppy Campaign is set to begin on Friday.
The legion’s Estevan branch is going through the last preparations and has already started talking to businesses about their participation.
During the weeks leading to Remembrance Day, the legion’s volunteers will be visiting local businesses as part of their business blitz. They will be asking for donations for the poppy campaign. Poppy trays will start appearing at local businesses this week as well.
Another option to support the legion is to purchase a wreath that will be laid at the cenotaph on Nov. 11 on behalf of a donor.
“Poppies can’t be put out until the last Friday of October,” explained Estevan branch president Jim (Frosty) Forrest.
The number of poppy trays put out in the community will depend on how many businesses will decide to participate, but Forrest said that usually, they have about 100 trays with poppy pins that help to collect donations in Estevan.
While several businesses already reached out to the legion expressing their willingness to help them raise money, Forrest believes it might be pretty tough this year due to numerous COVID-19 related restrictions.
“It’s going to be hard for the poppy campaign this year, but we are going to give it our best effort,” said Forrest.
“We hope the community will get together and support this. Veterans have been disproportionally hit by some of the hardships of the whole COVID thing and they certainly need our assistance.”
Legion volunteers will be visiting retail businesses in person, and this year they came up with another option for organizations and individuals to partake in the campaign.
Starting Oct. 27 and until Remembrance Day, they will have poppy trays and wreaths available at the legion.
“Come see us at the legion between 11 and 1 o’clock, and someone will be there to help you out. That’s if a business would prefer to pick up their poppy tray, they can do that during that time as well,” said Forrest.
The money raised through the poppy campaign every year goes to the trust fund and can be used only for specific purposes.
Three major programs the legion's poppy fund supports every year are the Paws for Veterans, which provides service dogs to veterans that need them; Leave the Streets Behind, which helps homeless veterans to get off the streets and get established and in a position where they can find some work; and Veterans Wellness, which is a relatively new program that focuses on supporting veterans seeking general health and wellness assistance, be it getting into a gym or education on nutrition.
Forrest added that they annually give out bursaries to graduating high school students, who, in many cases, are children or grandchildren of veterans, to help them pursue education. Besides, the legion supports local cadets.
“The poppy fund isn’t a general fund for the legion use. The poppy fund is almost a separate entity; it can only be used for specific things. When we make those donations, we actually have to get an approval,” Forrest explained.
